Does the food need to come directly from hand to mouth? If the dog is already loaded...

What I mean is, can I toss the food, and is it ok if he doesn't catch it?

Hopefully that makes sense

thanks

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
_______________________________________
"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

Technically the treat should arrive within like a couple seconds, but they have found that often the anticipation of the treat after the click is just as rewarding as the treat itself. Can't quote you a source on that as I can't remember where I read it. BUT if Oscar's behaviors aren't getting stronger, then obviously he'll need the treat faster/more accurately. Make sense?

"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

Also, the food reward can be used to move the dog around. So sometimes I feed straight to the mouth, and sometimes I toss the food to the ground...to get the dog to move...for a certain reason. It all depends on what I'm working on at the time.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

I'm tossing the treat these days because otherwise, Goober will just sit there and stare-- and when I'm trying to click for eye contact or for a sit, etc, that does me no good. This gets her set up for another repetition. The trainer we're going to even recommends crumbling it on the ground when we're working on LAT-- it buys a second or two and replicates (if synthetically) a calming behavior.

Also, adding movement to a treat can increase the value of the reward. I like her note on treats:

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
_______________________________________
"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

I can't handle it, it hurts! Thats one way to turn a training session negative. I have taught gentle but I'm not going to say that for EVERY click/treat He has 2 broken incisors and so now its extra ouchy.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
_______________________________________
"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

I was taught by a trainer that if your dog tends to nibble on your fingers, when you're not teaching a behavior, put a treat in your hand and yor hand into a fist. Let the dog nibble/lick at the fist and when they stop, open the hand and offer the treat, repeat until they're gentle about taking something from your hands. My fingers are now much happier (obviously with minr setbacks when we're a bit excited).

thanks! I've always felt a bit rediculous having a pretty well trained dog, and we have a couple of things like this that just seem like we should have figured out and we haven't.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
_______________________________________
"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

And just a reminder - if your dog is normally NOT a shark, or if you get it trained out of him so he isn't anymore, if he returns to sharkiness it probably means he's over-threshold and you need to reassess your environment to see what's stressing him out.

"Remember - every time your dog gets somewhere on a tight leash *a fairy dies and it's all your fault.* Think of the fairies." http://www.positivepetzine.com"

pitbullmamaliz wrote:And just a reminder - if your dog is normally NOT a shark, or if you get it trained out of him so he isn't anymore, if he returns to sharkiness it probably means he's over-threshold and you need to reassess your environment to see what's stressing him out.

Yup...and sometimes it's GOOD stress, meaning that they're just excited about something...so it's not always a BAD thing that they're stressed about. But you still need to figure out what it is, and adjust your training and treating.

But yeah, I have a friend that has dogs with titles in flyball, agility, rally, obedience, herding, etc...and the dogs can't take a treat without taking your fingers. She just never taught them that. Drives me up the wall.

"I don't have any idea if my dogs respect me or not, but they're greedy and I have their stuff." -- Patty Ruzzo

"Dogs don't want to control people. They want to control their own lives." --John Bradshaw

I tried and couldn't figure out how, besides a less pleasant method.It was like the speak, it was our holy grail, until we tried clicking.

I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
_______________________________________
"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07

We toss it all the time, especially when shaping, I need to get Ryder away from the object to reset. Just make it very available. sometimes I toss it too far and she doesnt' find it right away. In this case it helps me acknowledge what shes actually learning and if I'm marking the right behavior. Its obvious if she runs back to the object that she gets what we're doing.

Other times it comes right from my hand like hand targeting. I think both are welcome depending on what you are looking for.

Ryder - Rescue APBT Panser on a Roll - APBT (American Bully?)Gretchen - the red headed cat that thinks shes a dogPrudence - the new cat on the block to put the dogs in their place!Punchlines Better Than Lojac - APBT (RIP)